It can’t be easy being David Frum, what with spending every waking moment of your life trying to atone for ever having held an even remotely conservative position at one point.
Day 4 of David working out his irrational fear of guns in public. https://t.co/y4RpEZtMkE
— RBe (@RBPundit) September 6, 2021
That’s right, folks. Having solved all other problems, David Frum can return to his one true passion: fighting the Second Amendment.
On September 1, the Atlantic published Frum’s piece about “How to Persuade Americans to Give Up Their Guns.” Here’s how it concluded:
You want to be a protective spouse, a concerned parent, a good citizen, a patriotic American? Save your family and your community from danger by getting rid of your weapons, and especially your handguns. Don’t wait for the law. Do it yourself; do it now. Do it because you just bought your first home, do it because you just got married, do it because you just had the baby you cherish more than anything in this world. The gun you trust against your fears is itself the thing you should fear. The gun is a lie.
As more Americans recognize the lie, they may notice a powerful new possibility. Once emancipated from the false myth of the home-protecting gun, they will find it easier to write laws and adopt policies to stop the criminals and zealots who carry guns into the streets. Win enough elections, and the federal courts will retreat from their sudden gun advocacy—and return to their historic deference to state regulation of firearms.
None of this will be easy, but it is not impossible. Over the past half decade, we’ve seen American society changed for the better through mass movements such as #MeToo. Now we need a new moral reckoning.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek writer Thucydides described the progress of civilization. It began, he said, when the Athenians ceased carrying arms inside their city, and left that savage custom to the barbarians. It’s long past time for Americans to absorb this first lesson from the first democracy.
Recommended
As if that wasn’t good enough, here’s the piece’s accompanying illustration:
“We need to promote gun safety, so here’s an illustration of someone throwing a gun into a public trash can.” pic.twitter.com/jqnqSfvtgh
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) September 6, 2021
Just brilliant stuff all around.
But it turns out that Frum had more brilliance in store for us all, as this morning he’s decided to add “A footnote” to his Atlantic piece:
A footnote to my @TheAtlantic on the hazards of individual gun ownership. 1/x https://t.co/gpW6t3F2tH
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
“The hazards of individual gun ownership.” With phrasing like that, you can probably guess what you’re in for.
As the article details, the vast majority of American gun buyers buy their guns with a view to protecting themselves or their families. Very few entertain fantasies of waging private war on the government. They mostly buy handguns, not rifles, let alone military-style rifles. 2/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
Yet here on Twitter (and in the email I get), there is a lot of talk about the private gun as bulwark against state tyranny. If the Nazis come to power in the United States, gun carriers will mobilize to do battle for the liberties of us all. So let's talk about that idea. 3/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
After examining a pair of Supreme Court cases regarding the Second Amendment and militias (start here if you’re interested), Frum gets to the real meat of his beef with private gun ownership:
Gun rights in the US have never been a tool for the powerless.
Gun rights in the US have often been a tool for the locally powerful.
16/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
This remains true today. Everybody understands what would happen if a group of Muslim Americans shouldered AR-15s and marched to the legislature of a "Constitutional Carry" state under green flags and chanting "Allahu Akbar." 17/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
Today's armed groups likewise enjoy the tacit – or even explicit – permission of local power-holders to intimidate or even terrorize the locally disfavored. 18/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
I say all this with zero sympathy for any kind of armed dissident against legal power in a constitutional society like the United States. Got a beef against authority? Use your words and your vote.
19/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
A gun to protect yourself against criminal threats? For most people in most places, it's at best a waste of money, at worst a tragedy in the making. For those who truly need it, there should be some system of proper training and licensing.
20/x
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
But for those who imagine the private gun as their defense against state oppression – the sad record of American history is that the private gun has much more often been used by local tyrants to oppress neighbors peacefully exercising *their* legitimate rights. END.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 6, 2021
Well, David, that certainly is a lot of words. We’ll give you that.
https://t.co/d87HCM5VRi pic.twitter.com/PuoLwcTmgp
— The Riverrat (@Riverratbri) September 6, 2021
We can’t honestly say that David Frum is completely useless, because he offers some really great insight into the sort of clownery that props up the gun control movement. And it’s important to be familiar with your opponents’ tactics. Which suck, by the way.
Only an authoritarian would describe 2A rights as “hazards of individual gun ownership.”Confiscation projection by gun controllers.
Know what’s an actual hazard? Living in a society where private ownership of guns is abolished.
Ask many of our relatives how that turned out… https://t.co/IGFR4a9TsV
— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) September 6, 2021
In which David ignores the historical record of dictatorships built upon the disarming of the people.
It’s never merely the private gun but the collective private guns. They are as much a deterrent as anything. https://t.co/07iRuhUwVG
— Arthur Dent (@trashdnscattrd) September 6, 2021
I think the events happening in Australia are convincing people otherwise.
— Zebra Cat (@ZebraCat20) September 6, 2021
David Frum’s timing is typically terrible. This is no exception.
But there is a silver lining:
Probably the best part about Frum’s long-winded jeremiad complaining about gun ownership is that it just doesn’t matter.
He’ll bitch and moan about the “hazards,” but then Americans respond by buying another 1.3 million like last month. https://t.co/TNdXss3BWa
— Michael Haugen (@HaugenTX) September 6, 2021
***
Related:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member